Colin I

Thanks to you both - then Japan will not survive. The Russian role is interesting. In Pacific Theatre it really only weighed in late or if Japan was careless. Now the potential to shift its weight East or West in a single operational move is quite striking - compare this with the US which takes far longer to commit and engage. Of course it is vulnerable on both fronts too. In this game China really sucked Japanese resources but maybe Russia is a better target. I have a couple of proposals. I feel Russians should have more fighters at start or on build stack. They need something to deal with German TAC - plus fighters should have double intercept. In WaW the Russians had more air plus AA. I do not miss the AA, it does not suit the game scale, but there does need to be more interception possible. Secondly OP move needs a limited range (that increases with Infrastructure). So it may take 2 moves to go Berlin to Vladivostok (something I just did with about 10 units) or shift air over the globe. Right now its too fluid. And to repeat an old proposal I'd like to see some method that Japan can make peace with China. This could cost a lot but it opens up game potential. Also, the China grind is not the most fun part of the game even if it really was like that.

WEST: Pretty much Soviet. EAST: British liberate Indochina. US sinks most remaining IJN carriers and fights on Philippines. Soviets reach Mukden with lead armour. There is a lot of Japanese air waiting on the mainland but I suspect not enough. In an MPP air war the Soviets have resources to burn. To repeat my question - anyone know the end date for the 1939 scenario?

WEST: Only the Finns remain. Surely they would have switched sides by now. Is there a script? EAST: Russian armour directed by Zukhov blitzes the Japanese in Manchuria and liberates it. US armour drives on Manila. Rain slows other progress. This game the US/UK sacrificed a lot to supply the Russians even when the Soviets were clearly winning. The reason is the Russians can most effectively attack Japanese mainland holdings. Whilst the Russians did do this (in a rather desultry way) I do think mistrust towards the end of the war would limit Allied support. Perhaps lend lease should cease when Russia tops 500 mpp per turn or there should be some scripting?

WEST: British and US carriers plus ground troops destroy the last German air and take Paris. France is liberated. Germany surrenders. EAST: USSR turns on Japan though its a bit slow getting going. British advance through SE Asia. US armour advances on Manila. Err - anyone know when the end date of this is? USSR will trash Japanese land forces (despite the latter having L5 armour its only 1 strike and less numerous - plus the Soviets have more MPP than is decent) and IJN is unlikely to survive long but taking Japan will take a while.

WEST: Russians enter Munich. they now hold this and Berlin but Germany hangs in there. British carriers destroy 2 German fighters and land units nail a TAC bomber. Italy surrenders and Spain enters for the allies. The end is VERY near in Europe. EAST: American armour advances in Manila but its well defended. Japanese show L5 armour in China. Russians mass on the border. Japanese have big concentration of force in Korea and Japan. Both sides repair carriers and generally prepare.

WEST: Rome falls to Russians and Spain should join the Allies soon. Did not see an Italian surrender. Rest of Europe deep frozen. EAST: Russian build up continues and Russian air reveals Japan to be packed with defenders as expected. US marines raid and torch Borneo oil fields.

EAST: Japanese has very bad luck - USN is covered by bad weather and IJN retreats. USN breaks off engagement too after supporting a landing on the Philippines. Russians build up on Japanese border. WEST: Bad weather mostly halts the fighting except for a few skirmishes.

EAST: US launches air attacks on Japanese carriers. These fail because he has L5 CAP from his carriers and US (Canadian and UK too) casualties are high. But it literally clears the air and US carrier strikes across Borneo and Philippines sink Japanese carriers. For some reason his lead carriers were not running CAP - perhaps to conceal their location but US bombers knew where at least some were. USN will take major casualties next turn unless there is bad weather but its still worth it to bring him into a stand up fight. UK loses a few scouting vessels trying to find his remaining carriers. Japanese L5 air attacks US L5 fighters on China India border. There is something wrong with ground attack here - he should have done more damage than he did. Perhaps same issue as people have remarked upon with carriers? But important thing is Japanese fighters were not on Borneo or Philippines - if they had been USN carrier strikes would have failed. IJN has lost almost no surface vessels and has quite a few carriers left plus a bomber to spot. I expect casualties. If he had attacked 3 or 4 turns ago it would have gone badly - US only upgraded from L2 to L5 fighters and L0 to L2 long ranged air and got ground aircraft onto islands the last few turns. Plus carriers were distracted bombing Japanese on islands. WEST: Russians liberate Vichy France and sink some Italian vessels in port. Not much action in Germany - weather too awful. Spain continues to Allies.

WEST: Milan falls as does Breslau. German Jet and Italian bomber downed. Otherwise bad weather slows the conflict. EAST: American bombing raids and British cruiser reveal Japanese carrier positions. No big fight though but USN prepares. Lots of convoy routes are down. US air destroys a Japanese special forces in China. One more island falls to US marines.

WEST: Germans lose a TAC bomber and Tiger plus a few corps and cluster their defense around Munich. Western Allies land in Benelux. EAST: Bombers interdict convoys, Chines look like they will hold on.

Rannug: I like to accumulate the British carriers around the UK - use them to clear U-boats and harass the Germans and get experience. Then in mid-1943 switch them to the Far East to support the US Carrier group. That frees the US up to develop air TAC air, bombers to hit those convoys and subs. The British are really quite powerful now. Axis strategies that concentrate on USSR and China are strong but with a pro-active UK strategy the Axis might regret not taking action here.

WEST: Russians hold Berlin, take Benelux (paratroopers) and destroy a few German units plus taking Venice from the Italians. US paratroopers take Ruhr. Spain at 50% Allies though it is rather academic now. EAST: Russian build up on Manchurian border. Chinese have a few units now and actually dare move forwards and attack a Japanese fighter unit. A big problem in the Japanese conquest of China was the lack of a bombing campaign. Chinese got hammered but had enough MPP to recover a little. Canadian bomber hitting Borneo is doing excellent work hitting his ports and oil. Really like the oil now - big sources of MPP making it unnecessary to have a separate oil system. US and others (Dutch, UK) hit Japanese convoys.

WEST: Russians enter Berlin and US carrier kills 2 German TAC air. Germans destroy Russian paratroopers in revenge for Von Manstein. Spain moves towards Allies. EAST: Not much action.

WEST: Russians are within 1 tile of Berlin. Two Tigers are killed by air power and Von Manstein assassinated by 2 paratroop units. Germans show Jet Fighters but too late. EAST: UK continues to support the last few Chinese units and the US consolidates its island positions plus keeps sinking Japanese convoys. BILL: no problem. In part I wanted to contradict a few threads that suggest that certain Axis strategies are automatic victories.

WEST: Russians roll forwards into Germany with air support from UK carriers and ground-based air in Sweden. Allied units within 2 tiles of Berlin. He still has good armour and air but German position is unsustainable. EAST: US continues to take islands and Canadians bomb Borneo and Dutch East Indies. US subs attack convoys. US air tries to interfere with Japanese taking last Chinese capital - Japanese deploy excellent air to counter. I think China will just hold but its going to be close. Stand-off in SE Asia.

WEST: Russians continue to move through the Balkans. Belgrade falls. Russian armour supported by air blitz through to Vienna and destroy the defending army but lack the action points to enter the city. The US arranges a long-range paradrop to complete the job, using air bases in Southern Sweden. Elsewhere the Russians kill a Tiger and stormtoopers (with some help from UK carriers in the Baltic). If the weather doesn’t turn I believe I’ll be losing some of my lead elements to his TAC bombers but its still worth it, a high casualty slugfest can only suit the Russians. His core air cadre is great but Russian fighters are higher tech (though less experienced) - its more attrition of land units that is likely to be critical here. On the downside he will take Vichy France next turn. Spain is already drifting to the Allies but its a long way off joining. EAST: Japanese continue to destroy China and bring in air to counter Allied rescue attempts. A minor UK vessel is sunk by an IJN carrier. But US is taking a central group of islands to support their navy. SUMMARY: The Yin-Yang theme, East vs West continues. The Germans continue to fight well but have major strategic problems like not owning any of Russia or the Baltic! The Japanese may be at or near high water mark – they will nail China sooner or later but probably will concede more territory to the US – and will be a tough cookie to defeat.

Not so sure - Germany is strong but Japan is a real challenge. I think UK has counterplay quite early.

WEST: Russians keep rolling in the Balkans. He shifts his line back a tile but this means the Corps in Budapest is not dug in. Russians hit it with heavy armour and air and Hungary is out. Russians threaten Belgrade too and keeps the air war going to drain his pilots. An Italian corps dies in Albania. He isn't losing too many units from Balkan surrenders but morale hits are nice. Otherwise not much action. I'm expecting his TAC air to get nasty in the Spring but I'm happier now Russians are rolling better. The moral is - as historically - pick on Germans Balkan Allies....! He will retake Marseilles next turn. EAST: US continues to Island Hop towards Japan. SE Asia US and British bomb Japanese ground troops assaulting China. Chines really going to pieces though. US subs hit convoy lines. Japanese start to muster in their homeland.

I guess it always does at some level. The Soviets have 500 MPP to throw at the Germans but the altered combat model means lower casualties when high tech units clash. This allows German experience to last longer and reduces the MPP war of attrition. This is more realistic - in WaW once the Germans started to crumble they went to pieces very fast. In fact it took 3 years.

Finally some progress against fortress Germany. Europe freezes but the Southern Balkans are not too cold. So, Russians use Zhukov to direct an assault on Bulgaria which falls. Currently Soviets own this plus Rumania. Meanwhile air battle rages over the border. Axis fend off Vichy ploy with ease though - preventing reinforcement. Spain starts to drift towards the Allies. Now the USN has drawn off the IJN and Japanese air force, the British and US start to aid the Chinese with TAC killing a Japanese special forces unit. This aid should make a big difference. USN still lurking for an opportunity whilst US subs attack convoy lanes. It is getting pretty exciting. 1944 will probably be decisive.

Europe freezes over - Italians advance on Vichy France. Far East also quiet - Japanese continue to grind China and, given no interference, will take it in 1944. However I think Allied air power may start to dispute this - its harder for Japan to concentrate its own air force now the carrier groups are circling and looking for advantage. On the whole I think offense is a bit harder in GC. In particular, I think Russians would have engaged Germany in a much higher intensity conflict under the old combat model. In many ways new model is more realistic but does lead to long periods of sustained conflict which can get a bit tedious - though it really was like that.

WEST: More too and fro on the German:Russian border with lots of Russian infantry casualties - mind you its almost as dangerous being a Tiger crew. Vichy joins the Allies. SUMMARY WEST: Germany holds Italy, most of the Balkans, France and Belgium. Allies have Scandanavia (including Denmark) and (now) Vichy France. Russians own all of Russia. German navy is sunk but Italians still have their fleet. German defense is a massive air force surrounded by land units. Both sides have excellent technology. North Africa never saw any action. Basically Germany hard pressed but holding well. EAST: As US Navy move forwards, IJN deploys back from SE Asia defensively. US Marines continue to take minor island ports. US subs start to attack convoy routes. Now pressure is off British in SE Asia they attack and kill a Japanese paratrooper. Chinese hold firm. SUMMARY EAST: Japan concentrated very much on China. There is a stand off in SE Asia. India and Australia are unthreatened. Japan has grabbed quite a lot of Islands. The two Navies are maneouvering for advantage but have yet to clash in a big way. As with the West both sides are strong in technology. OVERALL: Dave has played a very controlled game - no huge advances but excellent defensive play preserving units and building technology. The MPP imbalance Allies vs Axis must be quite large but bringing this advantage to bear is another story.

Mayhem EAST: Japan throws its full carrier force at SE Asia causing quite some damage - downing US air and threatening Bangkok plus sinking an Allied submarine. US indulge in a small amount of island hopping East of Borneo. China still barely holding. WEST: Germans kill various ground forces infiltrating the Fatherland. Russians make traditional response - more of the same whatever the cost. They kill a Tiger by air and ground and nail an HQ and army in Northern Germany. The latter two involved Russian amphibious assault from the Baltic and UK carriers. There is also action in the Balkans. Germany has HUGE airforce clustered in central Germany and great ground troops but not so numerous. Both in WEST and EAST bad weather would suit me very well. In Germany it would make his airforce vulnerable - its running out of places to relocate. In SE Asia it would make the carrier deployment ineffective. Lets hope.....

Soviets enter Germany whilst their air power destroy German paratroopers. British kill a Japanese special forces unit in SE Asia but Chinese are crumbling even faster.

Air war intensifies over Germany and the Swedes land in the Fatherland. Soviets build up and send their jet fighters screaming over Eastern Germany. China is about to lose its capital to the Japanese but I reckon its not quite out of the war yet. British armour active in the jungles of SE Asia.